There is Something Wrong with Shania

Facing a judge in Ottawa, previously convicted in a vehicular homicide while driving under the influence, Matt Brownlee said he was following the driving instructions of Shania Twain when he was involved in yet another accident. Little did it matter that he had been prohibited from driving for the rest of his life, the accused now has an unbelievable alibi in Shania Twain. It was her fault. Shania may drive you to drink, but not to drunk driving.
(see http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/28/drunk-driver-shania060328.html)

The sad thing about this whole farce is that a cadre of psychiatrists is buying into this alibi, saying the man believes he hears voices of famous people telling him how to drive, and so is not mentally responsible for his actions. Worse still, the judge was convinced they were right. Methinks there is more than one person in that court who needs their mental capacity challenged, and some of them are wearing white coats.

Firstly, Shania is cannot be that bad a driver. Anyone who has lived in Timmins knows how to drive in all kinds of weather over roads that, while they do not meet southern Ontario standards, are fairly passable most of the year. Secondly, most of us have heard that other voice coming from the back seat telling us how to drive. While only the less daring of the male of the species follows those instructions explicitly, it does pay to listen sometimes. Woe befalls the driver who tries to use the excuse to the police officer that his wife made him do it.

Given for a moment that the aforementioned driver is mentally unbalanced, where were his friends or family when he took the pick-up out for its fateful run? Knowing he was forbidden to drive, why did someone not stop him? (Ten years ago, Brownlee was given a seven-year prison sentence and barred from driving for the rest of his life after he killed an Ottawa woman, Linda Lebreton-Holmes, and her 12-year-old son while driving with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit.) If he is not responsible for his actions, who is? Certainly it is not Shania Twain.

Maybe our justice system is at fault. Did the penalty for the first accident suit the seriousness of the crime, and if not, who should be held responsible for the ensuing accident(s)? How about the psychiatrists who testified on his behalf? Or the lawyer(s) who tried the case, both defense and prosecution? The judge who set the penalty? Surely someone is responsible.

If any of the above failed to protect us from a maniac who listens to driving instructions that he ‘hears’ from famous people, they ought to be charged as accessories before the fact of the crime. And if this person gets away with a precedent-setting defense, the judge, lawyers and psychiatrists ought to be charged as accessories after the fact. Perhaps they would all like to go on a road trip with him as their chauffeur.

The number of instances of judgments and punishments that seem to go against all common sense is a growing list that apparently has no end. Maybe, as in the standards set by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, we have become a society that is too liberal in our thinking. Ultimately we have no one to blame but ourselves for our justice system, but when we appoint officials to act on our behalf, we ought to demand a level of competence and consequences for error.

While we do not want to create a system where the punishment does not fit the crime and go overboard with penalties, we do need recourse for the Shania defense. Perhaps if we had a watchdog group who could start a civil action suit against the judges and lawyers and even the professional witnesses, they might stop some of this seeming nonsense that had crept into our system. The Brownlee case would be a good place to start.

The next we hear, someone will be saying it was Burt Reynolds from Smokey and the Bandit II who made him try to out-drive the police. And the chances are some doctor of the mind will say it was entirely possible (although he or she might allow that the action in the first Smokey was better).